


The Ritual

by AKSST



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:28:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKSST/pseuds/AKSST
Summary: A Hannibal version of the 2017 movie The Ritual, an in name only adaptation lol.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Updated every Sunday!

_This is bullshit._  
  
The words ran on a loop throughout the entirety of the trip as Will sat sandwiched between Zeller and Beverly. At least it wasn’t between Zeller and Price and he would have to be the middleman as they leaned across and made eyes at each other. Frankly he would have taken Price’s position as laying down in the back hatch with the luggage if it meant he didn’t have to smell everyone’s B.O and morning breath. _Again._ They were riding in the cheapest rental car the FBI could find of course, complete with five whole seats, and maybe four inches of legroom total. Which wouldn’t be an issue, if they hadn’t had to drag along an extra.   
  
It was bad enough that they all had to attend a mandatory conference in fucking Lithuania of all places, but now they had to go on some mandatory Team Building adventure in the middle of the wilderness. He lived in the middle of nowhere, what was the fucking point of even leaving! He could have just left them out in his back forty and been done with it. Been home with his dogs having a drink that didn’t come out of a metal hip flask that had long since adjusted to his body temperature from contact. Will quickly snuck another nip and tried not to gag as the whiskey was not only _hot_ but had a disgusting metal tang to it.   
  
Listening to Jack have the nerve to be charming of all things to the overdressed shrink that had been assigned to him was just another layer on the shit cake. She had an equally pretentious name, Bedelia du Maurier. Probably descended from that lady who wrote those melodramatic novels. And naturally her name meant “Exalted one”.Of course those two got to sit in the driver and shotgun seats. While he, Zeller, Price and Bev were relegated to the back three seats and the luggage area.   
  
It wasn’t a mystery as to why they had been selected for their team building. The FBI got two birds with one stone, they got their yearly international conference for the department out of the way and of course, there had been an anonymous complaint for how Jack treated his underlings. Hence the overdressed shrink taking up the shotgun seat. And of course instead of just telling him to not be a jackass they all had to pack their shit and fuck off to Lithuania. _Fucking Zeller_ He gets yelled at one time and has to file a report, everyone got yelled at, it was how Jack dealt with his bullshit. It wasn't right of Jack, but it wasn’t right that they had to deal with serial killers every week like they were on some ridiculous show either. Life wasn’t fair. It didn’t make Zeller any less of an irritating little bitch in Will’s already low opinion of the man.  
  
Will also knew that soon they would have to stop, get all their shit out and walk the rest of the way, because Jack had decided not to get gas before they left. Since Lithuania charged too much in his opinion, and he was sure they had enough to get there. Will could already smell the engine as he burned the last of the fumes in the tank. Jack even had the brilliant idea to speed up as they were running the last few gasps. Yes. They made it a whole twelve feet farther before the engine finally burned out and died. Totally worth it. Fucking moron.   
  
He bit his tongue for the umpteenth time that day as they all piled out and took their essentials. Will was glad he always travelled light. Everything he needed into a duffel bag that functioned as a hiking pack, and everything in there he needed in case things went tits up. Like they did now. He watched the rest of the crew gather their things, far too many things, and get ready for the walk, because no one had cell service and Jack had not had the foresight to bring his government sat-phone. Why would he need it in Lithuania at a government conference?   
  
_Because shit happens, Jack._  
  
“We should stay on the road, follow it to the lodge, then we can get someone to tow it or bring us some gas or something.” Will finally spoke up.   
  
“Dude! We were the last ones out of there! There’s four hours left to drive, that means a forty-two hour walk minimum!” Zeller yelled out. “I can see lights over there, it’s gotta be the lodge. I say we just walk through.” He said in that stupid tone that often meant one thought their opinion a respectable one. “It would probably cut it way down since we won’t have to walk around all the hills. Seems like a good shortcut to me” He added smugly.   
  
_If a shortcut was actually a shortcut it would be called a route_   
  
Will rolled his eyes as the group murmured its consensus. These idiots wanted to walk through the woods, each with a backpack and two suitcases, none of them with a tent, a shrink in eight hundred dollar stilettos and all of whom barely scraped through survival training. And constantly complained about how close they had come to failing it. Most of them anyways. Will didn’t think the shrinks had to go through survival training but at least Dr. Du Maurier didn’t seem the type to complain. This was the team Will was following into the woods, or rather being pretty much dragged by Beverly but the end result was the same.   
  
Beverly was sure things were going to be just fine, too upbeat to think this could all end horribly, Price was just excited to see some of the sights in the woods he had read about. Zeller was happy he had “won” so to speak, Jack was eager to prove how effective his team was to the shrink who somehow managed to still be graceful even as her heel sank into the moss under their feet.   
  
He stuck to the safe spot at the back of the line, no one could accuse him of leading them the wrong way, and he was a decent space away from everyone’s stupidity. Will thought he was far enough away not to be hurt when they somehow got hurt doing something stupid that people who don’t hike think is funny. And from his vantage point he could see everyone and make sure he wasn’t about to get pranked, something that they did to one another frequently. Because of course these people would think that out here would be the best spot to play pranks. And of course he regretfully had to stop drinking his whiskey because he couldn’t afford to be drunk in woods he didn’t know, with city dwellers who would die in the wild, as well as inevitably dehydrated by the alcohol.   
  
The night dragged on as they walked farther and farther into the woods, finding some old carvings that were actually fairly interesting, even more interesting were the ones that were actually relatively fresh. He didn’t bother listening to Price talk about the history of them and yammer on as relentlessly as he had before about anything and everything he had ever read or heard of that related to Scandinavian runes. Will shook his head as the man’s voice screamed into his brain, yes, he understood. These mountains and rafes were carved from the heavens by Nordic gods with big fuck-off hammers.   
  
Why couldn’t this conference have taken place in England? They have bars and liquor stores on their walking trails. And no public drinking laws provided you weren’t being a nuisance. He could be walking around with a beer or a bottle of whiskey. But no, he was stuck trekking through the woods, with a bunch of idiots who couldn’t tell a mushroom from a toadstool. Maybe Price could, but Zeller would just as soon eat it on a dare, which Bev would most certainly do.   
  
Will supposed that this hiking detour wouldn’t have been so bad on his own. The sights were beautiful, the seemingly endless trees, the gigantic hills that never rolled but instead seemed to have cracked open the Earth and forced their jagged ways into the air. The yawning chasms that opened up wide enough to swallow a man whole, and at the very bottom the tiny little stream that had worked for millions of years to carve it out. Even in the darkness, the stars themselves brought enough light that thankfully they weren’t left too blind.  
  
The reason for the winding road was made perfectly clear, although it was easy to see the lodge from the road, the rafes, hills, trees and mountains in between them all made it impossible to carve a road through. And of course, that was what their team had decided to walk. At least Lithuania was small. Even if they got lost they would probably eventually end up somewhere, possibly Poland or Belarus, but _somewhere_.   
  
Eventually.   
  
They were going down and then up another chasm, clearly after more than a few hours hiking when it became clear they would have to make camp for the night. There was no way to tell how long, these weren’t his stars, and he hadn’t been watching them close enough to tell how long they had been hiking. Since of course no one thought to bring a watch they didn’t have to charge and Will never bothered with one.   
  
It was also when shit hit the fan, climbing up over the ridge and back into the woods.  
  
“Fuck every hill in the world…”Zeller whined from his left.   
  
“Lithuania can kiss my bridge.” Price responded.   
  
“Your what?” Beverly asked, laughing a little. To which Price explained that it was a term for the taint. Will rolled his eyes.   
  
“Come on guys, it’s beautiful out here and we’re making good time.” Jack said, looking at them and side eyeing the shrink, what's her face, Bedelia.   
  
Thankfully Jack didn’t rise to the bait when Zeller muttered something about Jack marrying Lithuania if he liked it so much. Still trying to play Schrodinger's Douchebag, deciding if he’s joking based on the reactions he gets.   
  
Will had tensed up so much he thought he was going to shit out his soul. If Bedelia hadn’t been here then he would have had just cause to, but of course Jack was trying to look good for her. He needed a good review.   
  


Just before Zeller got the balls to be even more obnoxious, they all came upon a sight that stopped them in their tracks.    
  
A gutted elk, hanging from the trees. Ripped open by teeth and claws...and somehow still bleeding.    
  


“We should leave.” Will said immediately.    
  
“Wait, what the hell could have done this?” Zeller asked as he looked up and down the blood splattered trees in disgust.    
  
“It definitely wasn’t an animal, anything big enough to take down an elk that lives up here would have dragged it away somewhere low to the ground.” Price said as he walked up to examine it. Will shook his head as he began to walk ahead.    
  
“Maybe there are some hunters out here trying to use it for bait or something.” Bev added in, ignoring Bedelia as she looked on at it, trying and failing to seem affronted or afraid. As a shrink she should know that humans tend to have a natural interest in the macabre. Yet there she was, trying to hide her emotions. Will followed Bev’s lead and politely ignored it   
  
“Guys, it's still bleeding, whatever did that is close. We need to get out of here.” Will said as he kept walking. For once Jack agreed with him and walked after him, Bedelia in tow. As Will looked around he spotted some carvings. Some old...some very fresh. Old runes, the same four, over and over, carved somewhere on every single tree if he stopped long enough to look for them. And absolutely nothing else. No tracks, no broken brush, not even any arterial spray.    
  
Will walked faster and faster as the brush got thicker. Making the walk hard for his compatriots in loafers and high heels. Before he knew it he was accidentally leading the troupe. Something was wrong. Hunters wouldn’t do that. They would eat the elk. It was fresh, too fresh. Anyone doing that would have had to not only stay silent themselves, as it would surely have taken more than one person to do it, but also keep the elk silent as they not only strung it up but disemboweled it.    
  
Silent…   
  
It hit Will like a ton of bricks. It was perfectly silent. No birds, no bugs, not even a harsh gust of wind. Forests were never silent,  _ never _ . And when they were it only meant that the animals within didn’t want to be dinner by whatever predator was on the hunt. Will turned around to warn his group, as he did he heard the sounds of something bad finally happening.    
  
The sound of snapping, a cry of pain, he turned just in time to see perfectly curled blonde hair catch the moonlight as its owner fell to the forest floor. Will stood stock still, even as his companions all rushed to help their felled comrade. As it soon became apparent that Bedelia had just fallen instead of becoming prey he looked around, trying to see or hear anything other than that six of them. Nothing. Still. Not even a bat, or an owl.    
  
Zeller was at her feet removing the shoe, and gently trying to make a splint out of nothing. Will pulled the first aid kit out of his pack and forked it over. Thankfully the man's job made sure he had a good understanding of physiology to do a temporary patch up, even if his usual patients weren’t among the living any more. Will was still looking around when something caught his eye. He saw a strap, an old one of nylon. That shouldn’t be out here.    
  
He hooked his finger around it and gave it a sharp tug.    
  
It gave with relative ease. Along with the foul smell of mildew and rot. Will pulled harder and harder, coming away with an extremely old tent, possibly a shade yellow once upon a time, but now the color of mold and dirt. Thankfully they were all relatively used to foul smells. Will unzipped the tent as Jack made the announcement to Bedelia that they had found what she had tripped over. No way she could have done that on her own, she was a whole foot and a half away from the tent. She thanked him politely nonetheless as the rest of the team went full investigator and examined the tent and its contents.    
  
What they found did not exactly lighten the mood.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to post it early! <3

  
Inside the tent they found a full backpack of old, half rotted away clothes, a purse, and two pairs of shoes. One being a woman’s pair of hiking boots and the other being a man’s, both from a company no one recognized. The clothes were too rotted and eaten away at by bugs and rodents to be of any help, as was much of the purse. Inside it however they managed to find one passport, belonging to a woman, named Kathrine Pimms. There was a wallet, holding a few old bills, and some long ruined photos. Nothing that looked like it belonged to the man aside from the boots could be found at all.    
  
“Do you think this could be an old cold case?” Bedelia finally spoke to the rest of the group.   
  
“The passport expired in 1982, It’s more than cold, it would be shelved.” As usual, Jack answered, giving them no chance to speak with the shrink. “We’ll bring the passport with us, see if we can’t look into it when we get to the lodge.”    
  
The group agreed which was alright. But what would they do now? Bedelia couldn’t walk. They all were already way over weighed with luggage. The terrain was too rough to just drag her on a makeshift stretcher, or a pine bow. First things first they had to divvy up her luggage and see who would carry which pieces of it. Then who would end up as her crutch. Price and Zeller each got a bag, Jack was too tall to be the crutch, Bev was too short. Will ended up volunteering for the position.   
  
“I brought a carving knife, I can whittle her walking stick when we make camp.” Will offered, they were the first words he said even in regards to her, and it didn’t go unnoticed. They didn’t have to look surprised, it was no secret how he felt about shrinks but it wasn’t like he was going to suggest they leave her here so they had a better chance of survival. Out loud anyways. Besides, if whatever got that elk came along, it would go for her, the weakest link. Dropping her would be the best way to get away with his life.   
  
They finally walked on, at a much slower pace than before, which had already been slow on account of the dark and the gear, as well as the improper footwear everyone had. Will only got more and more paranoid as the night wore on. Never growing lighter, never growing darker even. The only solace was the wind, and as that picked up faster and faster it soon became anything but. They had been walking for hours upon hours, something should have changed, The night should have gotten darker, should have come closer to dawn,  _ something _ . Will ignored the weight on his side as he helped Bedelia, ignoring her thanks, excusing them with a nod. He stayed focussed on the woods around him. Hoping for any sign of change.    
  
Change did indeed come, but not in the way Will, or any of them would have hoped.    
  
They didn’t even have the courtesy of a few warning drops it seemed before they were surrounded and enmeshed in a torrential downpour that soaked them all to the bone. Even having to yell over the sound of the drops hitting the Earth. The added windchill did nothing for any of them.    
  
Squinting through the drops hitting his face and getting into his eyes he spotted something out of the corner of them. There were no right angles in nature. Finally, there it was, its shadows jutting out against the fraying ends of the trees.    
  
“There’s a house over there!” He yelled over the rain at the rest of the group.    
  
He could barely see it through the storm, but there it was. They all followed him to the house. He held Bedelia upright, having moved a bit too fast and watched as Jack grabbed the old fashioned, long rusted knob.    
  
“It’s locked!” Jack yelled.    
  
“Fucking kick it in!” Bev shouted back.    
  
The FBI tended to frown on breaking and entering, but thankfully Jack was less concerned with regulations than he was with not freezing to death.    
  
As soon as the door was open they all rushed in. Will took Bedelia into what served as a main room while Price and Zeller shoved whatever they could in front of the door that the wind could now blow open. He set her gently down onto what felt like a chair and removed his pack to blindly feel around for a flashlight. As he clicked it on to look around for a fireplace and some wood he heard Zeller yell out from behind him.   
  
“You had a flashlight this whole goddamn time?” It was less a yell and more an incredulous, exhausted wheeze.    
  
“In open woods your eyes adjust, a flashlight would give slightly more detail, but then make us blind in our periphery. And make us targets for any predators.” Will said calmly as he continued looking for something to burn.    
  
“Like whatever got that elk.” Bev finished as she sat down next to Bedelia. Determined to be social with whoever was the least social of the group as she always was.    
  
“There’s nothing here to make a fire out of, unless we want to burn this guy’s dining room table.” Will said. “This must be someone’s old hunting lodge, no one’s been in here for at least a decade. If not longer.”    
  
“I’ll replace it with my grandmother's heirloom table for a fire.” Jack said. Giving the ok, but still covering his ass with his wording.   
  
Just in case.    
  
Zeller stuck by Bev and Bedelia, waiting for enough light to see how her leg was doing, and what could be done to help it. Price helped Will break down the table and chairs as Jack went upstairs with Will’s flashlight. Will piled the once chair and now scrap wood into the fireplace and set it ablaze, filling the cabin with warmth and light. While Zeller and Bev looked after the invalid Bedelia Will went upstairs to see what useful items he could rat out.    
  
He found three rooms upstairs, one an empty cold storage, the second just as empty, possibly a bedroom. Both with footprints in the dirt and dust, Jack had been there, seen nothing and left. The third door was left ajar, and Will stopped at the writing. It was nearly hidden behind all the filth, a few quick brush offs made it plenty visible. Runes, the same ones that covered the trees they had been walking through all night.    
  
These runes were far older, seemingly as much a part of the wood as the age lines and knots. Melding into the old tree until it seemed like they had grown there all their own, making a home for itself there. This house was far older than it seemed, far too old to simply be someone’s old hunting cabin. Maybe it had been used for that, but this place was far older than something that just got put out here at any in his own lifetime.    
  
Will finally pushed the door open to find Jack staring enraptured at an effigy. A headless figure, covered in the same runes. Its “arms” outstretched wide, ending in long twigs and branches, appearing to have bent its arms at the elbows to have held something over the head that wasn’t. It had four legs, two in front that simply ended in blunted branches, and two in the back carved intricately,  _ lovingly,  _ into the hooves of a felled deer.    
  
“Jesus fucking Christ you guys.”    
  
Jack nearly jumped out of his skin, turning around to Bev, standing in the doorway, walking in, Price and Zeller right behind her, following her voice. Will took a step back, letting them into the room that suddenly felt far too small for the five of them.    
  
“Who the hell made this creepy fucking thing?” Price said in fascinated disgust.    
  
“Too bad this wasn’t downstairs, we’d have had something better to burn.” Zeller chimed in jokingly.    
  
“Lets not add to our destruction of property fines.” Will said over all of them. Someone had worked hard on that, after all. The group chuckled a bit at his words, although his tone left very little wiggle room for it to be truly seen as a joke as they all filed out of the room to join Bedelia. Will was the last out, as he left he turned his back on the statue, he felt a shiver cascade over his body, like a whisper from a dark corner was calling to him. He obeyed the urge to turn to look one last time at the creation. At its runes. He found that the statue felt that much more alive without the presence of those who would rather hide their emotions behind mockery and laughter...much more alive. He also noticed yet another thing about the statue.    
  
The runes carved down its middle were fresh.


End file.
